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Hellooooo 2012!

I decided to bring 2012 in with an active bang. On New Year’s eve day, the hike team went for a hecka long hike up and down Mount Diablo. It’s only an hour away, but in 25 years I’ve never been there. The views are pretty amazingly beautiful. However, I was not feeling my best. I think we hiked about five hours and the last couple were a real weird struggle for me. Straight uphill. First I was getting shooting pains in my right ankle. I was wearing my old ankle brace as well as using an orthotic in that shoe. My ankle really did not feel happy going up steep inclines. I was a little freaked out when the pain started because we were a good two hours from the parking lot (uphill). But after a while it subsided, and then the other stuff started. Nausea, stomach cramps, light headedness. Oh man. It was really one of the worst hikes I ever did, physically.

Nature Guy found the world's biggest pine cone!

One of the mentors gave me some pita chips to get some salt into me. I think after a few hours I can get really sensitive, hydration wise. Even if I’m drinking a lot of water (which I was) if I don’t have salt and electrolytes, I can get really messed up. I was trying to be conscientious about the water but clearly it was not enough. I felt crappy the rest of the hike and when I got home, I had to just hop in the shower and into the car and over to San Francisco for my NYE dinner date and to work at friends’ comedy show. (which was awesome)

When I got up (at 6am!) on New Years’ Day, I was still kind of running on empty. I was feeling kind of tentative about doing the 10K run I’d signed up for, but I was meeting my Hike Coach (who was racewalking), another friend, and a bunch of buddies from my Tri team. I didn’t want to miss that! I promised spouse and self that I would rest, turn around or quit if I felt yucky.

I didn’t really have any huge goals regarding the race, other than finishing without feeling like death. It’s a good thing that I didn’t have a good look at the race course before starting, because it would have scared me a LOT. The middle of the course was just one giant hill. Steeper or as steep as Mount Diablo.

Wow that was one heck of a hill.

I ended up walking pretty much all the way up and most of the way down. I saw a lot of runners FLYING down the hill and it scared me to death -you could break your neck so fast like that! So I was pretty cautious.

The awesome thing is that they had a great aid station at the top of the hill, which was the 10k turnaround. Sports drink and all kinds of edibles – including my favorite, salty pretzels! I took a big cupful and a big handful of pretzels. And you know, the second half of the race felt fantastic. I felt like my body was in perfect balance with fluids, salts and nutrition. The magic combo, once again!

I sure didn’t beat any speed records (especially due to the hill) but I finished feeling strong. Coach Carolyn cheered me into the finish – she had walked that 10k twenty minutes faster than I did, running! She is a real force of nature. I met up with my other buddies and we got our medals and our (YUM) Haagen Dasz ice cream bars (what a great post-race treat!). We then discovered that Katherine had come in first in her age group – how awesome is she!!

So it turned out to be an awesome way to start the New Year. But man, I was pooped. Last night I went to bed right after dinner. I wasn’t sure if I was exhausted from the dual workout, or partly sick, or…

Today I barely moved. I spent the day paying bills and filing stuff and generally keeping a low profile. I think I need to learn a little bit about pacing myself. 🙂

January 3, 2012 4

Philips Vs. FitBit: The Activity Monitor Showdown

I’ve been using a Philips DirectLife Activity Monitor for over two years now, and I pretty much have loved it. But I recently got intrigued by the FitBit, and I decided to give it a spin to compare the two. I think that activity monitors are really, really useful tools for health and fitness. I want to be able to share one of these gadgets with future clients, and I wanted to choose the best one. I once used a BodyBugg but I felt like it was too complicated, offered almost too much (kinda like Microsoft Word) and I hated the feel of having an elastic cuff around my arm all the time. Like having my blood pressure taken. So I switched to the simpler DirectLife and it’s been working well for a few years now.

Well. It’s a tough choice! Both the DirectLife and FitBit have some distinct pros and cons.

The FitBit arrived a few days after I ordered it and I was very excited to try it out. It has some additional features that the Philips Directlife Activity Monitor doesn’t have, like estimating flights of stairs climbed and sleep quality. I thought that was kind of cool, since there have been many studies linking quality of sleep with weight loss.

But after 2 days, my FitBit died. It just stopped doing its cool things no matter how many times I re-installed the software, stuck it with a paper clip to reset it and contacted Customer Service. All of which were time consuming and a pain in the butt. Then I got a new one. Which took over a week to arrive, which was frustrating. I had 2 days of activity tracked and I hated having that hiatus in between. Then I almost killed the new one by putting it in the washing machine. It didn’t work for many days but then somehow it revived (dried out?).

So here’s the rundown. I LOVE many elements of the FitBit, but for me, the one major drawback is that it is not waterproof. I had no idea how important a feature this was, until I didn’t have it anymore.

This is the deal. I wear my DirectLife all day, all night, every day, 24/7. I never take it off except to charge and sync it. I wear it on a chain around my neck and unless I’m going to some super-fancy affair (in which case I stick it in my bra), that’s wear it stays. I don’t ever think about it. I wear it in the shower. I wear it in the pool. I wore it during my triathlon. I NEVER TAKE IT OFF.

Maybe I’m just too clueless and lazy for a FitBit. I clip it on my clothing. And then when I take that piece of clothing off, I often totally forget about the Fitbit. And many hours of activity are lost. Sometimes it ends up in the washing machine. This is NOT GOOD. Once I clipped it on my sports bra. But then I washed it. Bad bad bad.

I really, really liked that the FitBit would show its data in real time, and that I didn’t have to connect it to the computer to see my stats. I loved that it measured steps, miles, calories, flights of stairs. SO COOL.

: real time data! Nifty!

So to recap:

Philips DirectLife:

Pros: easy to use, great individual coaching, clear data online, waterproof, durable

Cons: only tracks “movement” and not individual elements like steps, stairs, etc.

FitBit:

Pros: easy to use, clear data online, can see data in real-time, has various data points (steps, mileage, calories, sleep, stairs)

Cons: easily damaged (?), delicate, customer service takes FOREVER, not waterproof, must transfer from clothing to clothing, no coaching

They both cost about the same ($100, give or take a few bucks). For now, I’m going to continue using both, but for my personal use I think I’m probably going to stick with the DirectLife. It’s a no-brainer for no brains like me. Also, I just remembered the amazing personal coaching that DL offers. It’s a live person who emails you especially when it looks like you’re slacking off. They support, encourage and trouble shoot.

The customer service at FitBit was maddening. Basically you send them an email. It takes 24 hours average for them to respond with some suggestions. Then if the suggestion doesn’t work, you have to send ANOTHER email, more time elapses, and UGH. There’s no way to talk to a “live” person either by phone or online and get real-time support. Which I think is a major terrible drawback. I like to be able to try something, with the person RIGHT THERE, and then I say, “yeah, that worked! thanks!” or “that didn’t work, now what?” and I can get it taken care of right then instead of waiting two days for another fruitless email exchange.

I’ve heard of another gadget – Jack something? something Jack? which I might try. Whichever one I get is going to end up with a heck of a lot of business from me (I’m incorporating one of them into my developing business), and I want to get it right.

Have you used one of these activity monitors, or another one? Which one do you like and why?

December 29, 2011 9

The Bittersweet Triathlon

So I actually completed a longer-than-sprint distance triathlon yesterday. And yet I’m feeling pretty low. Why?

Yesterday was the big practice event before the actual tri in November. It was a real litmus test for how we will do in a few weeks. And on many levels I feel like I probably failed. 😦

Part of is has to do with my perhaps inflated expectations of wanting to complete an Olympic triathlon. If I had begun and continued with the goal of a sprint, I’d be riding high right now.

So.. first we got our transition areas set up in the parking lot of Paradise Cove Beach Park in Tiburon. I got it all arranged fairly neatly. Then we wriggled into our wetsuits and head down to the water. We took a look at the course, which was a triangle shape – first heading straight out to a buoy, then back to another buoy near shore and then a parallel line to the first buoy and repeat. It totalled about 900 meters or half a mile.

We got into the water and it didn’t feel horribly cold to me. I think they said it was around 65 degrees. We bobbed around for several minutes and then it was time to go.

I’m not quite sure what to say about the swim except it was a ridiculous combination of strong, easy swimming and absolute struggle where I could not catch my breath. It went back and forth like that. It was in many ways an echo of my Livermore lake swim, except the bad parts weren’t quite as bad and of course I swam a much longer distance successfully. However, I had to hang on to the kayak or the buoy several times to get my breath.

The angelic Annika, my mentor, swam by my side and called out encouraging things to me the entire time. I am not quite sure what I would have done without her. After one triangular loop she asked me what I wanted to do. I stood in chest-high water for quite a bit, collecting myself before I decided to go for the 2nd one. I just had to.

The second loop was somewhat better, or maybe not. I also needed several breathing breaks. I swam on my back for a while. I came in 2nd to last.

Then it was time to transition to the bike course. I was feeling pretty shaky and jellified at that point but I did manage to get my wetsuit off and my bike shoes and socks on. I took off and immediately there was a big hill up from the parking lot to the street. I managed to get up it in first gear.

I feel pretty proud of the way I managed to navigate a hilly, twisty, trafficky course on the bicycle. It was some of the best cycling I’ve done. But after the 8.5 mile loop I felt like I just could not bring myself to do a 2nd loop. I wanted to get off the bike, onto the run and DONE. There is one big steep, LONG hill near the end that nearly had me puking. I yelled obscenities all the way up the hill but I made it. I knew that it was worse than any hill for the real triathlon, and I didn’t think I could do it twice.

So after one loop I switched out my bike shoes for my running shoes and took off. I walked up the hill with the intention of running once I got to the flat road. This wasn’t going to be. My feet and calves felt like cement and were cramping up like crazy. I could barely hobble. So I did a combination of mostly walking with some small spurts of slow running when I felt able to.

My husband and mom had generously offered to volunteer at the 2-mile water stop so I was hoping to get myself into good running shape by the time I saw them. I finally made it around the corner and saw my husband’s sweet face and the cups of water lined up on the back of the car. Then I saw my wonderful Lily. She was kicking butt! She felt awesome and wanted to run with me. I had to wave her on. I slowly jogged back to the park and was FINALLY feeling halfway decent as I got to the parking lot. My feet and calves had relaxed but I was having some GI distress and not 100%. I joined the group who had finished, got my awesome paper medal and felt some degree of pride.

One one hand: DAMN I completed a triathlon! Even with the missing 2nd bike loop, the distance I did yesterday was longer than a sprint. So I had to feel good about that.

On the other hand, it filled me with worry (and not relief) about the upcoming Nov 6th tri.

My husband had seen my swim from the shore. He pretty much felt like (and told me so) that he did not think there was a snowball’s chance in hell I could complete the full mile. I just struggled way too much. Part of me wanted to punch him for saying so, but part of me knew, with a very sinking heart, that he was right.

After everyone finished we gathered for a really nice BBQ hosted by our coaches. I went up to Coach Haakon, dragging Mr. McBody with me, and asked him what he thought I should do. He said that he felt like physically and athletically I could do it, but I might not make the time cutoff. (but would I get a medal for finishing? YES!) But he also said he thought I was “on the bubble” between Sprint and Olympic and I could just have an awesome time doing the Olympic. Mr. McBody and he had a long discussion of my Breathing Issues during OW swimming.

I went back over to sit on a bench overlooking the incredibly gorgeous bay. I started crying and I just couldn’t stop. I just kept sobbing, “I’m so-so-so-so disappointed in myself.” I wanted to be with my team on Nov 6th so badly. I want to be able to battle through it and complete. But I don’t know. I just felt so sad and let down and disappointed.

So there it is. Yesterday afternoon I was all on fire about going out to swim in open water like EVERY day, and getting a special coach and just really trying to overcome this. Today I just feel tired and kind of resigned. And I’m not quite sure what to do.

I’m also sad that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy this incredible milestone: my FIRST triathlon! A huge accomplishment. I looked at all the congratulatory comments on my Facebook page and felt like, “Man, if you only KNEW.” Part of me snatched the victory away from myself because I felt like the struggly swim cast a menacing shadow across all of it. I couldn’t be as happy as I wanted to be.

😦

October 16, 2011 20

Vote! For Me, Please!

I woke up to the most wonderful news today – that SHAPE magazine has nominated FoodFoodBodyBody for one of their Favorite Weight-Loss Blogs of 2011! How awesome is that! VERY VERY AWESOME! The other awesomeness is that I have been nominated in the company of some of my favorite and most inspiring friends. What an honor! I’m ecstatic.

I also love what SHAPE said about us:

“Losing weight is hard, even under the best of circumstances…That’s why we love these 20 blogs. Each of the bloggers nominated in the weight-loss category is honest, funny and emphasizes the importance of health over weighing a certain number. They inspired us, and we hope they’ll inspire you, too!”

I can’t even being to express how happy that made me! Yay!

So please, if you are so inclined, go vote for me HERE. Thank you so much, SHAPE!

October 7, 2011 6

Retreating

It’s been a long time since my last post! But today is a self-appointed (nonscheduled) rest day and I’m using it to catch up.

There’s a bunch to say about my tri training but I’ll leave that for another post. Today I want to write about my “Stories of the Body” retreat that was held at Santa Sabina Center last weekend.

Wow. Just wow. It surpassed my wildest expectations and hopes for what it could mean for 20 women to come together to write, share, contemplate, make art and dance, cry and laugh about their bodies. It was just awesome and made my heart break with happiness.

It made me realize that really, all I want to do is interact with the world like this. In an honest, vulnerable, thoughtful and calm way. It was a turning point. It was good.

That’s really all I want to say about it. Here’s some pictures.

: inside the Hermitage

: contemplative eating

: Bodymindfull movement and writing; collage stories

Scrabble party; courtyard fountain

yes

: telling stories through collage

: peace

: new friends

: celebrating

October 7, 2011 1

Mama Duty Calls

Have you noticed that things have kind of ground to a halt around here? (and I still have two more Fitbloggin’ recaps to finish!!) I’m taking a little bit of a blogging hiatus for what I hope will not be a long time. Mama McBody has hit a bit of a rough patch this week and it’s taking all the minutes I have to keep things afloat. Am thinking of you all and Tweeting when I can. Thanks for all the good thoughts coming our way.

June 9, 2011 11

Where In the World Is…

Foodie Mcbody?

April 8, 2011 5

Ideas Are Brewing….

I’ve been busy thinking of some very exciting ideas lately. One of them is an online writing class with the focus on (guess what?) food, body, health, fitness… you know the topics! I’ve been teaching writing online and in person since 1994 and I love teaching writing. This has fallen onto the back burner for a while now and I am excited to get back into it. I’ve taught many classes on Writing Short Fiction from Life Experience, the Literature of Parenthood and other special topics, and now I’m in the planning stages of teaching a writing class on these topics that are near and dear to my heart. So, inquiring minds want to know– is this something that might interest YOU? It would probably be 8-10 weeks long and start in late summer. It will start with a lot of freewriting but then dip into various writing genres like short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and maybe more. (solo performance?) What do you think?

February 23, 2011 4

How Many Gyms Does One Girl Need?

I know, I know. Can you say greedy? Can you say overkill? But it’s not really what it looks like. Here is the situation:

1. Our family has had a family membership at Gym #1 for almost 20 years. It’s 10 minutes from our house. It has a really nice outdoor pool where we used to go with the kids back in the day. I probably go there a few times a month, and Junior and Mr. go more often than that. But it’s primarily a tennis club. I sort of hate tennis (I have no eye-hand coordination!) and I’m SO NOT the tennis club type. This place is very, um, UNdiverse and tends to have a snooty clientele. Also, I don’t like the classes there very much so I pretty much focus on their cardio machines.

2. My trainer’s gym, which is small and funky and humble. Which I adore and consider my home. I don’t pay a membership to “belong” there, so it isn’t really part of the argument. But I do go there at least 2x a week, to work out with him.

3. New fancy shmancy place which is conveniently located across the street from my new(ish) job. On days that I work there, it is very hard for me to exercise. I’ve tried getting up super early (aghhhhhh), walking or running during lunch (not long enough, AND I get so sweaty and no place to shower). It’s hard to go afterward because I am so tired. Recently I noticed that Foursquare was offering 3-day free passes so I went over to check it out.

My first reaction was: WOW. It’s so fancy! It has four classes at once, an indoor track, a pool, spinning, rowing, cardio machiens for miles, a spa, etc etc. It’s … WOW. My eyes bugged out.

I decided to take a “power one” class after work. (pictured ab0ve). It was PACKED. It was overwhelming. It was a great workout, but it sort of overwhelmed me. I HATE that techno-beat generic gym-class music. HATE IT. And I hate step platforms unless I am doing plyometrics with my trainer. So. Maybe it wasn’t the right class.

I went back the next day and took a lunchtime spin class. It was … wow, so intense, but a great workout. The only way this worked is that my afternoon work was pared down and I was able to take a 2 hour (unpaid) lunch. It did take the full two hours to walk over there, change clothes, go to the class, take a shower, change, then grab something to eat (I was STARVING) and walk back.

I like the lunchtime vibe a lot better than the after-work vibe. People were focused, got in and out, and it wasn’t the crazy mob scene of evening.

Junior went to the Fancy Gym and absolutely LOVED it. She wants to change our family membership. But the problem is that this place is not as close to where we live, AND they only take adults (so no Juniorette, who admittedly doesn’t use it a lot, but still). Mister is on the fence, and he has not been to visit.

Right now it feels less urgent because I’m only working downtown once this week, and I’m off all next week. I’m putting off Deciding until the new year.

December 21, 2010 3

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